Girls and Boys,Meet Nature bring your gun...

[ls317]

How F`ed up is this or what??

GREEN MOUNTAIN NATIONAL FOREST, Vt. - Chomping wad after wad of Bubblicious Strawberry Splash gum and giggling as she tickled people's necks with a piece of grass she pretended was a spider, Samantha Marley could have been any 9-year-old girl.



http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/18/national/18hunting.html?ei=5088&en=ded57e19fb917799&ex=1284696000&adxnnl=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&adxnnlx=1127034112-hm597AiP4sV4nHBV5BAv1A

[mirandapriestly]

1. Oh, how sickening, I hate those people nt

[Why Syzygy]

2. Hunting is in decline?

Oh what will happen next. Sheesh.

[FlemingsGhost]

3. Don't be so quick to judge. Some day, they might be hunting ...

fascists.

[RebelOne]

4. Yes, hunting is definitely on the decline.

Only 7% of the U.S. population hunts. And the state fish and wildlife departments are opening more and more special youth-only hunts. I am a copy editor for hunting and fishing magazines that are published in 48 states. And I was appalled to read that one state issues hunting and fishing licenses to kids as young as 5 years old.

[theHandpuppet]

5. I found this part especially... interesting

"My youngest child was with me when he was 2 months old and I shot a deer with a muzzle loader," he said. "He was in a backpack. I was stuck home baby-sitting and I felt like hunting."

With his wife, Heather, supporting the family by working from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. at a veterans' home and a Wal-Mart, Mr. Hoyt devotes himself to his mission, asking for donations of services from outfitters, taxidermists, hunting guides and others.

This month he plans to drive his camouflage-tattooed Toyota Tacoma truck to dream hunts for deer, elk, bison or pronghorn antelope in Michigan, Tennessee, Kentucky, Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio and Saskatchewan. He intends to sleep in his truck in between hunts and not return home until Thanksgiving.

This man has five children under the age of 13, his wife works from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. to support the family, and all he does is travel around for "dream hunts"? Now there's a REAL man -- NOT.

[annabanana]

7. And when this little girl hits puberty

she should get herself a couple of McJobs and help her Mom prop up this arrested development poster-boy..

[MadHound]

6. Not fucked up at all, in fact this use to be quite common

Hell, I first went fishing when I was four(and damn near fell out of the boat bringing in my first fish), and was eight years old when I first went out hunting with a twenty-two. Worked up to a twelve guage shotgun for bird hunting, and was ten when I first went after deer. It used to be routine for kids, especially in rural areas, to be hunting before they were ten.

We ate what we killed, and quite frankly given our financial situation, we needed the food income that came from hunting and fishing. And given that this was in the sixties and seventies, the heyday of adding massive steroid doses to cattle, hog and chicken feed, it was probably healthier for our entire family.

I have nothing against this, so long as they eat what they kill. We are experiencing a shortage of hunters, and certain animal populations are becoming a huge problem due to that fact. Deer in our area are a huge problem, eating up gardens, becoming a huge population that is breeding disease and death. Spongeiform encephalytis type diseases(mad cow) are starting to run rampant through the deer population, and probably jumping over to the cattle population, as are West Nile, lyme disease, and various others.

In addition, auto accidents due to deer are on the rise. Since there are no natural predators of deer left, the population has to be thinned somehow. In my state we are re-introducing both the wolf and mountain lion, but it will be decades before their numbers are great enough to make a difference, thus there is a serious need for hunting.

I'm sorry that you find this distasteful, but quite frankly it is a fact of life throughout much of the country. Hunters perform a valuable service in culling out herds, which left unchecked would lead to disaster. Also, for some it is a matter of life and death, since they cannot otherwise make their food budget stretch far enough. Besides, if you are a meat eater, you really have no room to criticise, for at least hunters are being up front and honest about it. They don't have the luxury of hiding behind the meat counter at the local grocery.

And you never know what an early exposure to nature will do to a kid as they grow. I've known several kids who started hunting early(and some that still do hunt) who have gone on to work for various enviromental groups such as Sierra Club, Greepeace and others. Hunting does not put a person above nature, it gets them out in the middle of nature, making them a part of it.

I've always found people like you amusing, decrying hunting between mouthfuls of that tasty tasty burger.

[ls317]

9. My Two Cents

First of all I have nothing at all against hunting and attempting to stretch a budget attempting to feed a family.
I am well aware of the purpose of hunting as a means to control the animal population there are controlled animal hunts in my state during deer season.
But personally I think that 9 years old is a bit young to give a child a gun and introduce them into hunting,most kids should be playing outside or involved in some type of sport that he or she likes..True it is great that kids will be outdoors..My issue with it is will this child really be taught on the use of a firearm and realize that it can be a dangerous weapon and it nothing to play with at all.That is all depending on the mental makeup of the child and should be watched during the developmental years.

[Silverhair]

8. Dad gave me a shotgun at age 11. I grew up hunting.

Bambi tastes pretty good, but mostly I hunted Thumper.

However, this guy DEFINITELY should have a job. Sounds like his previous job was a good one. I am amazed that his wife has not divorced him to look for someone who will work.

Hunting issues and this guys life style are two different things.